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Google Search Is Dying (2022)

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Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#171

Post by worrycue »

projektfu wrote: post #98

"How do I fix some odd setting in Windows, Mac, whatever" 2007: results include documentation, a couple forums, if you're unlucky there's a potentially malware tool that's discovered people need to fix this. 2012: results include Reddit and Stack Exchange, documentation has disappeared, forums have opened that are full of "support specialists" telling you to reset your windows install. 2023: top results are just blog…

Am I the only one still searching Google primarily though keywords/phrases (and the exclusion of keywords/phrases)? I don't see much degradation in Google's results.

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#172

Post by xnx »

izacus wrote: post #139
projektfu wrote: post #98

"How do I fix some odd setting in Windows, Mac, whatever" 2007: results include documentation, a couple forums, if you're unlucky there's a potentially malware tool that's discovered people need to fix this. 2012: results include Reddit and Stack Exchange, documentation has disappeared, forums have opened that are full of "support specialists" telling you to reset your windows install. 2023: top results are just blog…

You missed the expertsexchange era when they spammed all of Google ^^

expertsexchange is on of my favorite ambiguous site names

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#173

Post by MikusR »

pcrh wrote: post #152
andrewstuart wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Today, ChatGPT gives you an instant step by step guide which may or may not be correct but will likely get you there.

User: How do I fix large pdf files? ChatGPT: delete system32

Had to finally register there to check. This was the answer.

"There are a few things you can try to fix large PDF files:

    Compress the PDF: You can use online or offline tools to compress the PDF file. This will reduce the file size and make it easier to work with. Some popular tools for compressing PDFs include Adobe Acrobat, Smallpdf, and PDF Compressor.

    Remove unnecessary elements: If the PDF file contains images, graphics, or other non-essential elements, you can try removing them. This can significantly reduce the file size. You can use Adobe Acrobat or other PDF editing tools to do this.

    Split the PDF: If the PDF file contains multiple pages, you can split it into smaller files. This can be done using Adobe Acrobat or other PDF editing tools.

    Optimize PDF: Many PDF viewers have the option to optimize PDF files. This may include reducing the quality of images or fonts to reduce the file size. You can try using the built-in optimization tools in Adobe Acrobat or other PDF viewers.

    Use a different file format: If the PDF file is still too large, you may consider using a different file format, such as JPG or PNG for images, or DOCX or RTF for text. This may not always be possible, but it can be a good alternative if the PDF file is causing too many issues.

"

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#174

Post by moffkalast »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #145
moffkalast wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just headed over to one of the popular subreddits That was your first mistake, the defaults are cesspools full of karma farming bots. Nobody goes to those for advice.

What makes you think that the niche subreddits aren't also full of marketing firms, bots, and upvote networks? With very few exceptions, they are.

Because the tiny niche audience isn't a cost effective marketing group? Advertisers want to maximize their reach and well, it's not like they know these groups even exist.

I'm sure it happens a lot regardless, but the vast majority of content in those is still just from regular people. You can tell by the information posted as it tends to be more or less truthful and useful. Once it stops being that it'll be obvious enough. Like when Russian bots invade your average Ukraine related r/worldnews post.

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#175

Post by bootsmann »

Nextgrid wrote: post #146
onion2k wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if human readers know what's a good search result and what isn't That assumes there's a single, canonical idea of what a "good result" looks like. I imagine that's dependent on a lot of factors, from the context of why the user is searching, their demographic, and their biases. When I search for "chocolate chip cookie recipe" I want straight facts - ingredients and bullet point steps and nothing else. My mother would…

> That assumes there's a single, canonical idea of what a "good result" looks like Maybe we can't agree on what people want, but what I'm sure we can agree on is what people don't want. I don't recall anyone ever saying "I wish there were more ads in the content I'm consuming". So we could at least start with that.

Yes, and now turn that sentiment into a metric that can be measured as input to the model.

At first it was click-through rate, but that turned SEO into sites into clickbait to get high click scores. Then they switched to time spent on the site, and as a consequence we get recipes that are filled with 2h of prose above them just so people stay longer on the site.

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#176

Post by Phemist »

wslh wrote: post #168
kstenerud wrote: post #7

The worst is the SEO pages, especially for popular how-to topics. Every single first page result will be a page that has expanded what used to be said in bullet point form, into a 1500 word essay that you must now slog through in order to get the information you need. And this is by necessity, because Google values prose over bullet points. The majority of things that come up on search nowadays consist of computer-ge…

Limit your search to Reddit, HN and/or Stack Exchange! I really loved the first paragraph of the article about Reddit: "Reddit is currently the most popular search engine. The only people who don’t know that are the team at Reddit". I want to add this that just happened at my company, that shows really bad execution on the Reddit side. Bad as if the current Reddit management is surfing tiny waves in some paradise. Ou…

So, assuming that this "mismanagement" is not just happening in the crypto space, but across the board in other spaces too, they are missing out on short-term money, but are more valuable for the searches that users are now doing (including me). So.. is it actually bad execution?

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#178

Post by j_crick »

fnord123 wrote: post #165
j_crick wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the worst of SEO pages are cooking recipes, where you have to scroll down screens of badly written meaningless text before you actually get to ingredients list. At least Google still keeps indexing recipe microformats.

I haven't used Google in ages. Do they convert stupid recipes using volume for flour to use mass?

I haven’t noticed, but I usually hang around King Arthur’s website for bread recipes and they use mass and bakers’ percentages, so do other baker blogs that I may find. Maybe it’s different for things other than bread, but I can’t say. Hail Eris!

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#179

Post by londons_explore »

londons_explore wrote: post #169

Whenever you are thinking Google is dying, please instead consider what an ideal page of search results would look like... When you search for "2012 honda civic brake hose burst pressure psi", which pages exactly would you wish were at the top...? Typically, I find that when google search fails me, it's because the content I'm looking for actually doesn't exist. I'm seeing SEO spam simply because nobody has written a…

The internet dying is indirectly googles problem too... And they're in a position to solve it.

For example, the bursting pressure of a 2012 honda civics brake hose might not be on any public web page... But it is known to the engineers who designed the thing. There is masses of non-public information, much of it really useful. Not just engineering - but the script of every TV show and film ever, the things people say in public posts on social media, etc.

Google needs to incentivize companies to publish everything by default. That used to be adsense - publish useful info and earn a few dollars a month for your trouble. I think they need to take that further with some kind of info-sharing platform that pays to publish useful info. I'd also like to see a mode where a company can sync all their internal documents and members of the public can search them and then request to pay to see a document, with a company employee checking it first for secrets.

Re: Google Search Is Dying (2022)

#180

Post by squarefoot »

mmcgaha wrote: post #150
kstenerud wrote: post #7

The worst is the SEO pages, especially for popular how-to topics. Every single first page result will be a page that has expanded what used to be said in bullet point form, into a 1500 word essay that you must now slog through in order to get the information you need. And this is by necessity, because Google values prose over bullet points. The majority of things that come up on search nowadays consist of computer-ge…

Maybe I am wrong about this, and maybe the SEO junk sites would find a way to evolve, but what I really want from google is a plonk button so I can have a personal kill file for sites that I never want to see again.

It would be possible to do that at browser level through extensions, for example there is one to filter out Pinterest results from search results. I wouldn't however expect that potentially great feature to be natively available in Google search anytime soon, unless they made it as a analytics filled paid service and in a way that gave their advertisers and investors the power of circumventing it, that is, both plonk and unplonk as a service.
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